The 2000 Dodge Durango SLT 5.9L is a great vehicle to have, my opinion. I bought mine with 97,000 miles on it and it runs like new since the day I bought it, always kept it maintained. The only problem I've had so far is the heater core going out at 130,000 miles and I'm in the process of having it fixed. So you might want to keep an eye out on that as well also in the future.

 

I've not seen any posts in all of the Durango forums over the years regarding any proven cracked heads being common. One here or there, but nothing in a 'common' area. Not at all. Leaking plenums, I'll give you that. Not all of them do it, ones that have been cared for seem immune, so it is a matter of taking care of your rig IMO.

And drilling a hole in the tStat? That's a new one on me too. As soon as the stat opens, with the cap off, the air takes care of itself. There is no reason to be drilling any holes. Sounds like a wives tale, or a deep south jury-rig to me. Maybe they do things different out there in Cali from the rest of the Durango world.

Sry to be neg, just doesn't add up. Then again, opinions are like belly buttons, everybody's got one.

IndyD

 

[sm=funnypostabove.gif][sm=hail.gif]Indy
Now sorry to dis on ya Indy but, There is a big problem with the head cracking situation. Call any machine shop and ask them. The 360 has been around for ever from about late 60's on up. The problem is that they haven't changed the head casting very much since then. The thing is that the 360 was never meant to run at 195 degree's ever. They were meant to run at 180 degree's. The dealer put them up to 195 for emissions purpose’s. The best thing you can do is change the T-stat back to 180.

 

Yeah, I have 2 of them sitting in my garage. still need to toss them but maybe I'll take a few pics of them 1st. the t-stat hole is there to allow air to escape on the engine side of the stat. w/o it, you COULD get an air pocket on the engine side of it and have difficulty getting it out. some stats have a small valve with a plunger that just sits there untill water comes up against it and closes it. those work ok as well.

the 360 is in SO many dodges it's un-real... vans, durangos, dakotas, rams... there are so many out there.

 

Well, thanks for setting me straight. I'll keep an ear out for head issues. In my years and forums, I had heard folks mention it but never any certains. Most I know run a 180stat so perhaps that helps. I've been on a 180 PLUS Water Wetter since the first stat leak.

IndyD

 

since we're on the head topic, another good thing to mention is the need for headers on 2000 & up motors... when I 1st got my 2000 4x4 it was a real dog from the get go, I figured it needed something but didnt know what. I started poking around and found that one of my 2 cats coming off the motor was plugged. e-manifold temps at the collector/inlet to the cat were at 700 deg on 1 side, 625~650 on the other side. replacement of both was around $800 bux at the time so I left it so I could find another way of fixing it (cheeper). the one side that ws 625~650 was probably ok for the most part, I've only seen up to about 575~600 deg's on the inlets at that point on other cats.

well as luck would have it, the #7 cylinder exhaust seat let go and I had a huge miss. went thru all the debugging needed to find and verify that it was the #7 exhaust seat that died. So I yanked the head and got it fixed for $50 bux. while it was apart I decided to pug on a set of gibson headers thinking that the temps at the ports would never be hotter than what was coming out of the head. once I had it all back together I checked it with a temp gun and found this to be true. while the heads were off I opened up both cats with a couple of holes thru the middle figuring it would hold me over until I found a more cost effective fix.

anyways slapping the headers on would have helped all the way around. I also think that it combined with the 180 deg t-stat would help prevent the cracks from happening in the head. when i had my head off, I did not know about the cracks so I couldnt tell if they were there or not.

 

Now I like headers but:

1. They increase temp under the hood which creates problems with wire cracking.
2. I've seen problems with heat related spark plug wire boot problems.
3. I've also seen drops in torque although increases in HP.
4. It seems the spark plugs get fouled easier.

 

I can personnally vouch for this:

"cracked heads? common as the morning rush hour. they crack between the valve seats. you end up with a miss you cant fix and the only way to tell if they are cracked is to yank them."

My 1999 5.9l D started to burn oil and I had the heads taken off - and there sure as eggs are eggs was the little carbon trail between the valve seats...

It happens....Chris

 

Also, they never last. Eventually they'll start leaking especially where the pipes join to the collector. I went thru 4 sets of headers of various makes of manufacturers when I had my Toy truck. Each set only lasted less than 2 years. Drop in torque is a true statement, I cannot keep my Toy to maintain 65 mph or better on the highway on top gear, have to drop it a gear and then my MPG goes out the window. Then I just re-installed the OEM cast iron exhaust and torque returned and no more leaks.

 

I'm hearing sort of a whiney sound under the hood while in park. Any ideas?

I'm going to try and get that T-stat in this weekend.

The truck also feels like it's idling a little rough, but that could just be the truck. I can't decide whether the roughness seems abnormal or not. It's around 800 RPM's or maybe a little less.